But what does it actually take to avoid being fired on the BBC show, and how are candidates most likely to ensure they make it to the final week?

We've crunched the data to find out whether the winners keep their heads down or whether they go all out to show off as the project manager as soon as possible - or whether there's no pattern at all, and they're simply lucky in winning the competition.

Do winners take the helm more often?

Every winner has been project manager once, with most taking charge twice during their time in the show.

Yasmina Siadatan, series five's winner, took the helm three times - winning every challenge she took on.

But while winners do seem to take on project management often, they don't always have a good track record.

Three winners failed to win a task as project manager - Tom Pellereau (series seven) and Ricky Martin‎ (series eight) with one shot as project manager, and Mark Wright (series 10) with two attempts.

Most winners have ended up in the boardroom more than once

In general, winners avoid the boardroom in the first couple of weeks, most likely as a result of keeping their head down. It helps them avoid the regular multiple firings that often occur in the first few weeks.

This pattern was broken by last year's winner, cake company owner Alana Spencer, who ended up in the boardroom for the first two weeks of the contest.

Winners don't have great records when it comes to winning challenges or avoiding the boardroom. On average a winner will lose four of their 10 challenges, which will lead to at least one - and maybe two - trips to the boardroom.

Lee McQueen has been the most successful candidate in terms of avoiding the boardroom. The winner of series four, he was never taken to the boardroom, and was only on the losing team three times.

Winners are usually better at avoiding the boardroom

Attracting Lord Sugar's attention and fighting your corner in the boardroom has limited use, according to our analysis.

Winners spend the lowest proportion of weeks in the boardroom - at 15 per cent. This compares to those who leave earlier in the competition, with candidates that leave in 14th place spending on average half of their limited weeks in the boardroom.

Winners also have a relatively high winning rate compared to the candidates that leave the process earlier. They will be in the losing team around four times out of ten, compared to the six out of ten rate that candidates who leave earlier usually reach.

Keeping in the winning team is key

But most important is that you don't get called into the boardroom, especially early in the competition, as this drastically increases your chances of exiting the process.

The most successful Apprentice candidate at dodging bullets was Claire Young in series four. She survived the boardroom five times before making it to the final, only to become runner-up.

But there is still hope for the candidates that end up in Alan Sugar's boardroom in week one. Alana - series 12's winner - managed to survive the boardroom three times and being in the losing team a further one time before going on to win.